A/N: Howdy! :D I was caffeinated and bored so I started writing. Fear me. –grin grin- So, this time Konan finally gets to have her way with Saso-kins! Yaye. Thus, on with the story! :3

Disclaimer: I am Kishimoto. Totally. Uhm. Right…no. xD

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A Tall Cappuccino with a Dash of Yaoi

~ELEVEN~

Crouched in his dark apartment, Sasori was trying to ignore the urge to go get a latte. He tried to remember the hours that Konan worked, but he knew it wouldn't matter anyway. She lived at Starbucks just like he lived at Starbucks, and since she was expecting him she would probably stay longer. That woman was so relentless it was scary…

Sasori hugged a pillow, fighting against his boredom and his desperation for legal addictive stimulants. The coffee grounds he had in his cupboard weren't cutting it for him today, damn it. A fidgeting Sasori was not a happy Sasori, and he really wanted to suck it up and go out and be relieved. Hiding from Konan for the rest of his natural life would turn out to be pretty miserable, he was sure.

He bit his lip as he rose; hoping Konan wouldn't be overly spastic in her joy when he arrived.

--

"Dude hi SASORI!!" She chirped, slopping someone's drink on the counter as she saw him come in the door. "Oh. Um. Sorry about that. Deidara will make you a new one! Right Dei?! SASORI! Hi!!" Leaping out to meet him, she entirely disregarded the very long line of customers. "So, so? Feel like telling me a story today, do you…?"

Deidara, finding himself abandoned, called with fright, "Are you leaving me all alone, un…? But…! But…!"

"The manager's my boyfriend, I can do whatever I want," She grinned cheerily, leaving him without remorse to take care of everyone. Grabbing Sasori by the sleeve, she pulled him into their corner and popped him in a seat. "Okay honey. Spill."

The redhead grimaced, digging his fingernails into his palm. "Where do you want me to start?"

Konan rested her head into the bottoms of her hands, a dreamy look overtaking her bright eyes. "Anywhere," she sighed blissfully. He almost felt sorry for her if all she had to look forward to was this. Apparently Pein wasn't romantic enough? Maybe the latest soap operas weren't holding her attention…? (Sasori hated the dry spells in the plots.) The pity growing in his gut, he resolved to take her out and treat her to a chick flick at the theatre soon.

He rubbed his eye and took a breath. Deidara was such a beautiful person. Warmth bubbled up inside him, and he stole a quick look to the crowded counter. The blonde sculptor bustled back and forth, taking orders and money at the same time he was trying to clean up Konan's mess. Ah, Dei-chan. You're so cute when you're helpless. But he was helpless at the moment, and the faster he got Konan back with him the less exhausted he'd be later.

Then again, Sasori was damn jealous of that girl for getting to spend so much time with him. "Maybe I'll drop out of college and come work here," he mused, laughing slightly to himself. He was only half-joking.

"Ha!" Konan chuckled, eyeing him. "If you came here any more often than you already do, Deidara and you would never get any work done. You'd be all over each other. Kissy faces and whatnot…" A strike of interest flashed in her. "Hey, but speaking of kissy faces, how's the sex?"

"Wha…what?!" Sasori sputtered, so shocked at her boldness that he jumped backward far enough that his chair almost fell over. Wow, she was not afraid of anything. "You're asking me about sex now?!" Jesus, she must have been one hardcore closet fangirl. If she was really even closet at all.

Konan sheepishly scratched her cheek. "Um. Sorry? God, you're skitterish, Sasori."

He could feel a bright red blush painting his nose. His crimson hair didn't help matters much in that department. Konan stifled a laugh as he tried to hide it. He gave up soon enough, slumping down in defeat. "Well, we haven't actually done anything yet…" Sasori admitted, looking absently at his worn black pair of Converse. The Pikachu he'd drawn on the toe in Sharpie smiled up at him. Do we really have to talk about my sex life part of it too? Fuck, I am so horrible at this!

"Awh, I think that's cute!" The blue haired barista tittered, regarding him with an adoring grin. (How was she enjoying this? How? Did she take sick pleasure in making him uncomfortable…?!) He knew it was for his own good, though. Opening up to people was one of the first steps to being beautifully spontaneous. Deidara was always so happy when he was spontaneous. By now, Sasori was a little more than desperate to feel freedom inside his own chest…

"Cute, me?" Sasori repeated, glancing up from his graffitied shoes. "No, not me. Deidara's the cute one."

She squealed loudly, fist-pumping the air in shounen-ai fluff ecstasy. "Sasori-kun, that's exactly what makes you cute too! The way you arte totally doting on him lately… Hell, even Kakuzu's been starting to notice a change in the atmosphere between you two. I must admit though, I was crazy surprised that you really did go to a flea market of all things. What's up with that?"

"He wanted to go," Sasori explained, not seeing any big deal. "So I went with him… I even bought something, actually." He thought of the snow globe that now sat on his desk. All it did was collect dust, sure, but somehow he was almost proud of it. Even though it was a bit of an eyesore compared to the rest of his conservative, simple décor, he couldn't throw it away. It was like a symbol of him maybe having a chance with Deidara. He'd never had a chance with anything before. Now he was beginning to let himself hope.

Whether hoping was a good thing or a bad thing for him, he still didn't know. Maybe he was getting greedy, maybe he was getting a little foolish, but he was tired of caring. So tired, genuinely tired of caring. He just wanted to be able to collapse and not give a shit about what fell down with him.

Maybe I'm being foolish…

Oh, shut up.

He was sick of listening to that capable, rational voice in his head.

Let's run around and listen to no one. Deidara showed us how to do that; he said it was called 'fun'.

And he was right that time. Fun was fun.

"You bought something?" Konan asked, raising her eyebrows. The slight layer of mascara around her eyes glistened in the light. "Huh. Sasori brought something at a flea market. Sasori bought something at a flea market. Really? I can't get a mental image of that. Weird."

He shifted. "How is that weird?"

"I mean, like…" She pondered a moment. "It just doesn't seem like anything you would do. Like, ever…"

He smiled softly, stealing another look at his adorable boyfriend. By now he was getting everything under control at the counter. "Deidara's been teaching me a few things."

"Oh?"

"About art. About life. About him, and about me, too. We're like polar opposites, you know. He doesn't like to be held down by anything. He hates to have anything in his life paved down in strict concrete. Then there's me, who always gets stuck in that concrete…" He sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I think I should be more like him, Konan."

Blinking, she watched him carefully. "Hang on. Did he say that? That you ought to be exactly like him…?"

"No, he just said to be myself, and not let anything else pull me down from there. Why?"

"I don't know, for a moment there you sort of sounded like you weren't Sasori anymore." She combed a hand through her hair. "It just felt a little strange for a moment. I don't know, I was probably only imagining it…"

"Oh. Okay?" Sasori cocked his head, wondering what she was talking about. "But anyway, he's really…he's really wonderful. I mean that." The college student smiled, glad he'd talked to Konan about it after all.

She smiled too, running a manicured finger over her lip piercing. "Ha ha. There you go again, being all sweet and cute. Ah, I could glomp you to death! God. I fucking love you, Sasori-kun. Love you." Then she added suggestively, "Of course, not as much as Deidara loves you, I'm sure."

"You are horrible." Sasori sneered, but her comment brought on gleeful butterflies in his stomach.

Dei was the one. He had to be. Those butterflies didn't come around for no reason.

Dei was going to rescue Sasori from that awful, lonely place he'd ostracized himself to. With all those years spent there, he'd damn near come close to becoming one of his precious puppets himself.

There was no question in saying that Deidara was good for him. No question whatsoever.

But exactly how good for Sasori was Sasori?

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A/N: Haha, a little torturing of the darling scorpion today. :3 I forgot how much I love Konan. Okay, next chapter: Sasori and Deidara are off on another fluffy date, make a few wishes, and have a wonderful time until a few not-so-wonderful people show up. Meep.

And see the little button down there? It dispenses coffee today if you leave it a review. Deidara-made coffee. X3